Stephen Hawking speaks in support of assisted suicideWritten byADAM LUKE

Cambridge scientist Prof Stephen Hawking has spoken out in favour of assisted suicide for people with terminal diseases.

Prof Hawking, who has motor neurone disease, had previously been less supportive of the right to die, saying it was a mistake as “there is always hope”.

But in an interview which is expected to re-ignite the debate on euthanasia, the 71-year-old cosmologist told the BBC: “We don’t let animals suffer, so why humans?”

He said: “I think those who have a terminal illness and are in great pain should have the right to choose to end their lives and those who help them should be free from prosecution.

“But there must be safeguards that the person concerned genuinely wants to end their life and they are not being pressurised into it or have it done without their knowledge or consent, as would have been the case with me.”

Prof Hawking was diagnosed with his disabling and incurable condition at the age of 21 and was told that he had just two or three years to live.

Following a bout of pneumonia in 1985, he was placed on a life support machine which his first wife, Jane Hawking, had the option to switch off.

Recovering from the disease, Prof Hawking went on to complete his popular science best-seller A Brief History of Time, which sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.

Referring to euthanasia in 2006, he said: ‘’The victim should have the right to end his life, if he wants. But I think it would be a great mistake.

“However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there’s life, there is hope.’’

On Thursday, Prof Hawking will be at Cambridge’s Arts Picturehouse for the opening the Cambridge Film Festival 2013, which will see the first showing of HAWKING - the scientist’s own story told for the first time in his own words and by those closest to him.

I've always found it disturbing that many think it is a woman's right to choose because it is her body but that only applies to another being in her body, not her own being...

That said, I have no issue with assisted suicide in the case of someone suffering with a terminal illness.

Agreed. I am down with both early term (only) abortion and Assisted Suicide for the Terminally Ill / Incapacitated as long as proper psych checks were made ahead of time.

September 18th, 2013, 7:04 pm

m2karateman

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Joined: October 20th, 2004, 4:16 pmPosts: 10136Location: Where ever I'm at now

Re: Stephen Hawking speaks in support of assisted suicide

Pablo wrote:

I've always found it disturbing that many think it is a woman's right to choose because it is her body but that only applies to another being in her body, not her own being...

That said, I have no issue with assisted suicide in the case of someone suffering with a terminal illness.

Having watched my mother suffer through a massive stroke, and watch her quality of life diminish over time until a massive heart attack a few years later, and watching my father wither away from the effects of colon cancer, I am in full support of allowing those who are terminally ill, and suffering pain, be able to die with dignity, on their own terms.

I find it appalling that we will do the 'humane' thing and euthanize an old and suffering animal, but won't do the 'human' thing and allow a cognizant human being to make that choice for themselves.

People villainized Dr. Kevorkian, but the man was helping those who wanted that choice. And while, under Christian 'rules' it is wrong to take part in someone taking their own life, I choose to depart from that line of thinking at times like these. Unless Christ gives me or someone else the power to take the pain away from these people, I believe allowing them to fulfill their choice of death with dignity is the truly Christian and humane thing to do.

_________________I will not put on blinders when it comes to our QBs performances.